Salutations ghosties, in this devlog I'm going to give my step-by step process on how I make games, what I use to make games, tips and tricks, and more! Starting with:

PART 0: THE SOFTWARE

TIP: Finding the right software takes time! I've gone from Godot, to Ren'Py, to Light.vn, to Unity. It will take you time to find what works for you, and that's okay!

For the majority of my art (including UI) I use Clip Studio Paint with the occasional venture into Aseprite for pixel art.

For games, I make all of my solo development projects in Naninovel, a plug-in for Unity. It has Fountain support, so I write in the Visual Studio Code extension 'Better Fountain', which makes scripting look like this:

PART 1: HOW I USE THE SOFTWARE; HOW I MAKE GAMES

For The Rewrite Journal it started with a thought: 'What if I made a prequel for my ongoing horror game?' And thus, a spark was born. After I get that 'spark', I evaluate if I want to pursue the idea, put it off for later, or reuse it in another project. The Memory Journal, my main project, has an entire route themed after an abandoned 'airport horror' novel idea I had.

For The Rewrite Journal, I chose two of the paths-- The Rewritten Journal, my current project, is a remake of the game where I 'reuse' a significant portion of The Rewrite Journal's original material, though it has come over a year later from the original's release. The first path I chose was to 'pursue' it at the time, resulting in the next step: making the gosh darn game.

I start with character designs. I need to know how they hold themselves, what outfits they pick, what hairstyle they go for, etc. so I know who they are before I write them. When I'm designing characters, I look at my biggest inspirations. This can range from real life (is there an animal I think matches a character's energy?) to artistic inspirations (shout-out to Carrot's, HiroRCK's, and pumpkin-spike's art and designs).

Then comes writing the script. I study the writing of novels and visual novels before I write each game. It refreshes my mind and reminds me 'right, this is what makes a compelling story'. Music is especially important to me while writing; I put all my songs in MusicBee and I maintain a work playlist to play while I, well, work. The editing process varies between games-- for my short projects it's usually two rounds of edits (one before coding, one after coding), and for the longer projects my amount of drafts have reached into the dozens.

TIP: Break down how your favorite games work! Everything on-screen is something you can do too.

After that is coding in the game! At this stage comes figuring out the music (I use Audiostock for [almost] all audio), staging, sprite expressions, UI, and catching any errors I left in the script during other rounds of edits.

Once all these steps are done, I have a finished game! Now, how can YOU have a finished game too?

PART 2: HOW YOU CAN MAKE A GAME

What is an idea you love? Why do you want to make it into a game? Why do you want to make games? What makes you love games? Games are about you and what you value.

For example, I love making horror games to connect to other people like me who have similar experiences. I love games because they bring people closer together. I want my games to be what brings people closer together.

How you can make a game is by having that 'why'. Why you want to create. Why you need to create. And I need you to create, too.

So get started on your dream game today or continue making games.

Code that scene you've been looking forward to. Draw a CG you love. Write a scene regarding your favorite character.

Keep loving,

Specter